Only eight months after Teodor Zajder became the first person to go under 3 seconds, the Rubik's Cube world record has fallen again, and by a lot. On 6 October 2026, at Guangzhou Grand Open 2026 (Guangzhou, China), China's Xuanyi Geng solved the cube in 2.51 seconds.
And he is no newcomer: the record before Zajder's, 3.05 seconds, was his too.
How it happened
In official competitions, each round consists of 5 solves. The record came in the second round, on the very first solve: Xuanyi's times were 2.51, 3.99, 3.21, 4.42 and 4.75 seconds, for a 3.87 average. He then reached the final, where he finished sixth.
In single-solve records the scramble also matters: some allow especially short solutions. But you still have to spot them in time and execute them without a single mistake, all in two and a half seconds. If you want to see how he did it move by move, this video reconstructs the solve:
Another huge improvement
The previous record was 2.76 seconds, set by Poland's Teodor Zajder in February 2026. Xuanyi improved it by 0.25 seconds. In just eight months the record has dropped by more than half a second, from 3.05 to 2.51, after years of improving by hundredths.
This is how the Rubik's Cube world record has evolved:
| Year | Time | Record holder |
|---|---|---|
| 1982 | 22.95 | Minh Thai (United States), at the first World Championship |
| 2008 | 7.08 | Erik Akkersdijk (Netherlands) |
| 2011 | 5.66 | Feliks Zemdegs (Australia) |
| 2018 | 3.47 | Yusheng Du (China), a record that stood for almost 5 years |
| 2023 | 3.13 | Max Park (United States) |
| 2025 | 3.08 | Yiheng Wang (China) |
| 2025 | 3.05 | Xuanyi Geng (China) |
| 2026 | 2.76 | Teodor Zajder (Poland), the first under 3 seconds |
| 2026 | 2.51 | Xuanyi Geng (China) |
Another world record fell at the same competition: Russia's Timofei Tarasenko set a 33.19-second average on the 5x5 cube.
What about the average record?
For many fans, the most important record is the average, because luck matters much less: competitors do 5 solves, the best and the worst are discarded and the other three are averaged. That record still belongs to China's Yiheng Wang, with a 3.51-second average set in June 2026.
You can see all the records, with their videos, on the Rubik's Cube records page. And if you still don't know how to solve it, start with our step-by-step Rubik's Cube solution. You may not get to 2.51 seconds, but you will be surprised how fast you improve.